Baby's first word: SO you already know what it will be!
It's a moment parents have been looking forward to for months: your baby suddenly speaks a real, real word! No merry babble, no lined up lute: one word. High German. In addition to "can sit", "can walk", "can go to the bathroom" and "finally has their own apartment" one of the best moments for moms and dads. Now, new research shows that we can even guess which word the child will choose.
Everything in view
The key to the first word is not, as many parents believe, about the ear. Surprisingly, the eye is the central organ that has the greatest influence on language formation. At least researchers at Indiana University and the Georgia Institute of Technology are coming to this conclusion. While many parents tell their children "MA-MA" and "PA-PA" over and over again, they should instead pay attention to what their child is looking at.
Undercover spying in the nursery
How the childish language evolves is largely clarified among experts. But the crucial beginning, the point at which a baby suddenly linked an object to a word, remained a mystery. Therefore, the researchers chose an unusual path: they attached tiny cameras to the babies to share their exact view of the world. And that perspective actually brought an amazing insight: to baby, the world is a mess of new impressions storming at her. Therefore, their eyes do not stay in the same places for long - every object is equally interesting and new to them. But gradually there are constants that do not change and therefore become better known to them. Mummy. Father. Your drinking cup. These things settle gradually from the optical "background noise" and gain more and more importance for the child. When they finally start to discover sounds and language, they first try things that are "important" to their eyes.
Is that really the whole secret of language education?
No, it is not quite as clear as most studies. The researchers admit that with their series of experiments they have only initially confirmed their theory. But children are still very different, and have too many different impressions to deal with than that you could now reduce everything to this one factor. Nevertheless, the team is sure: The eye definitely has a big influence on the language development, an aspect that has hardly been considered until now.
Therefore: Pay attention to what your baby has most in mind during the day and what does not change. Chances are that it shows it one day with the little finger on it - and his first word speaks!
